[Kitchen] Wanderings

[Liz Granger]

Liz was glad to be back at Hogwarts again for the year she had missed the big castle that had become her home. Tonight she was wandering around the castle looking for the elusive hidden entrance to the kitchen. She had overheard a few of the older students talking about it in the common room yesterday and as wandering always helped her to get her mind off of things she decided to go on a stroll around the castle tonight. And Liz really did need to get some things off of her mind. The summer vacation had left her depressed and feeling alone. When she returned home from her first year at Hogwarts with the highest of marks her family had treated her as if nothing was special and nothing had changed. Even Paige, her twin, was acting distant. And it was Paige that was plaguing Liz's thoughts tonight. As she wandered around the corridors thinking about the growing coldness between her and her closest friend and confidant she stumbled upon a room that she had never seen before. It was a room filled with paintings. Liz decided to try and see if one of these paintings was the secret entrance but all she knew was that she had to tickle the painting. She did not know what or where to tickle or even what was in the painting. And there were so many paintings. There had to be at least 30 in the room and Liz wasn't even sure if the hidden entrance was one of these paintings. As she was mulling over all of these thoughts she heard something behind her. She hurried to hide in the corner praying that she wasn't about to get caught.

[Jinx Collen]

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Something dense and spongy was smacking repeatedly against the walls and floor of the dungeon corridor.

-Thwip-
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"Interesting..." mused a voice that seemed to be following the strange noice through the halls. "I would not have expected that this is how they would balance out... but it does make sense to some extent."

A pair of giant, blue floral flip-flops walked themselves into the portrait room, but they weren't just walking. They were stomping across the walls, tracking grime across the portraits of any witches or wizards with every -thwip thwipy- step they took. They were shortly followed by a girl in a bright yellow sundress and bonnet, strange attire for a midnight stroll, but what else could be expected? The blond Hufflepuff watched with extreme fascination as the sandals, now finished with their own special graffiti over the faces of all the portraits, walked up onto the ceiling and began to dance a happy -Thwip thwippity thwip- sort of a jig, far higher than Jinx could possibly reach to get them down.

"Ah, well, I guess they get to become another one of Hogwarts legends..." she mused, still staring at the shoes hopping up and down...or rather down and up from their aerial perch, deciding not to disanimate the frolicking footwear.

[Liz Granger]

Liz just stared in amazement at this strange girl that had miraculously not seen her hiding there in the corner. Her first thought was that she couldn't be happier that it wasn't a teacher. It took her a few moments to regain her composure and hide her shock that was in response to the giant flip flops that were tracking mud all over the room. When Liz finally regained her composure she mustered up the courage to come out of the dark corner and introduce herself to this strange older girl. "Um, Hi. My name is Elizabeth but you can call me Liz. Who are you?" Liz thought about it and threw caution to the winds and without waiting for a reply asked, "What spell did you use to make them do that?" Liz hoped and prayed that this girl would answer her curious question and not turn her into some strange accomplice to the shoes.

[Jinx Collen]

Without looking down from the show above, Jinx replied, "It's a simple equality spell, like people use to make sure everyone gets exactly the same amount of cake. I just adjusted the incantation and wand movements a bit. Instead of par," she said, making two horizontal slashes in the direction of the shoes, which immediately shuddered and became definitionless. Neither right nor left footed, with exactly the same pattern on each, "I use parilis."
She used the same wand movement, but at the and of the second slash, she looped the tip of the wand around and dragged a diagonal line across the shoes. They shuddered again and became right and left again, but now there was one blue floral one, and one that was hot pink with neon green stars.

With her demonstration completed, she returned her wands to it's holster in her hat, so it looked like a giant frill-less feather in her bonnet amongst a variety of large daisies and sunflowers. She turned to face the girl who had asked for information on the spell and smiled, "It's an absolute horror to meet you. I'm Jinx." She gave the girl a huge hug, then stepped back and asked, "What brought you out of your dorm after curfew? Trying to get as much use out of the night hours as those in the day?" she queried, wondering if someone else had the same idea she did.

[Liz Granger]

I guess that derivation of the spell would work and it is obviously effective. Liz began to ponder again the location of the kitchen at the mention of cake. She was thinking longingly of chocolate with strawberries and thick frosting when she was abruptly brought back to reality as the girl, who she now knew as Jinx, gave her a hug. Automatically Liz hugged her back, silently glad that this girl was friendly and did not seem to mind Liz's curiosity but seemed to match it with her own.

Jinx's question did not catch Liz off guard but she was hesitant on how much she should really tell this odd girl who seemed so fascinated with equality. "I was trying to find the hidden entrance to the kitchen," Liz said and hesitantly followed with "wandering tends to help me get my mind off of things." That seemed safe to share with this possible new friend. Liz had decided not to divulge the facts of what was really bothering her. And as she thought again of her sister she was brought back to the night before she had left again for her new term at Hogwarts...

She had gone to her twin Paige's room like she had every night since they had been given separate rooms to talk to her. This had become a tradition and they used to talk for hours on end until one of their parents eventually woke up and made Liz go back to her own room. But this summer had been different. Some nights they would talk like they used to but those were few and far between. Most nights Paige would sit there silently as Liz described life at Hogwarts and Liz would try to get Paige to tell her stories of her year at her new prep school. But as the summer warmed and went on, Paige got colder and more distant from her twin. And on more and more nights Paige would feign sleep when Liz would come to visit her and Liz would leave disheartened. On this final night Paige was awake and finally seemed to want to talk to Liz. At the time Liz was glad for this change and that Paige seemed to be back to normal but she could not be farther from wrong. As Liz started to talk, Paige silenced her. Paige said, "I don't want to hear anything about your freak school or your freak friends." Liz was hurt slightly by Paige's brutal honesty but at least she was talking. Paige continued, "I don't care about anything you learn or any of the bizarre things that go on. That stupid school took you away and changed you so much that I don't even know who you are anymore. You are NOT my twin." At these words Liz, who never showed emotion if she could avoid it, began to cry. Suddenly Paige's door burst open and their dad came in to send Liz back to bed. The next morning Paige did not even come out of her room to say goodbye to her twin who she had disowned.

No it was better that Jinx not know of this, Liz thought as she wiped away the stray tear that had escaped while she was lost in thoughts of the past. And Liz decided that she would not let her sister plague her and ruin her year. "Do you know which painting leads to the kitchen?" Liz asked Jinx with a smile back on her face, "because cake sounds really good right now."

[Edan Ashby]

A loud creak jostled open the gigantic frame surrounding one of the portraits that hung near the ceiling. It was a modest painting of an elderly woman, a suspicious trail of footprints across her forehead, and Edan emerged from behind it with an admirable expression of nonchalance. The woman, as well as the six or so miniature canaries perched on her hat, began shrieking as soon as Edan's fingers clawed at the frame.

"It's so high!" His voice was drowned out by the sudden chattering of thirty or so portraits as they watched him teeter precariously at the edge of the portrait. "I'm never trusting one of your lot for a shortcut again!"

With wide eyes, Edan looked down from the high ceiling and, squinting the slightest, noticed two figures in the shadowy candlelight. He was just about to reluctantly ask for their help when one of the elaborate Hogwarts tapestries next to him wound itself into a rope. With a sigh of relief, Edan clutched onto the thick material in both his hands and slowly began to climb down.

When his trainers finally touched the stone floor, he toppled down in a frantic heap. Looking up at Liz Granger, from his house, and a rather oddly dressed Hufflepuff he knew as Jinx, Edan suddenly offered a balance between grimace and smile.

"I guess all Hogwarts decor isn't so bad."

[Jinx Collen]

Jinx, seeing the girl's silent and subtle display of emotion immediately tried to explain away what she thought the problem was, "Oh, oh no, don't cry. 'Horror to meet you' is just my way of greeting people, just to change up the way people normally introduce themselves. I'm truly quite displeased to make your acquaintance. You're an ugly girl! Just to be clear, those are meant to be compliments."

A moment later Jinx was saved from digging herself into an even deeper hole by someone high above them crawling out of one. "If all the decor was unpleasant I doubt anyone would continue going to school here... then again, perhaps that would make up for all the schools who use their student's tuition to pay for elaborate buildings and furnishings... hm..."
The portraits behind Jinx became wide-eyed behind their muddy footprints, frightened of what she might do with this train of thought, so one clever, short, little, white-haired man in blue robes piped up and said, "I can show you which way to the kitchens, if you please?" He emphasized this toward Edan and Liz in an attempt to get their help in distracting Jinx from whatever she might be concocting.

[Liz Granger]

Liz was so lost in thought that she didn't notice her fellow Ravenclaw until he landed on the floor near them. His sudden appearance made her jump until she recognized him as Edan Ashby, an upperclassman from her own house. She was also confused because Jinx seemed to be trying to comfort her but Liz couldn't remember having let on a whole lot of emotion.

Oh well, Liz thought to herself at least now she had friends to accompany her on her quest for cake. And she was quite glad to not be left alone with her thoughts for the moment. She was also pleased when the funny man in the portrait offered to help them find the kitchens although it was probably fear of what Jinx might do next but that was perfectly alright with Liz.

They followed the man through several portrait to one hidden over in the corner depicting a bowl of fruit. The painting stood out because it had seemingly avoided the attack of muddy flip flops from Jinx. "Just tickle the pear in front there and the painting will reveal the door to the kitchens" said the white-haired man in blue robes. Liz immediately stepped forward and tickled the pear which then giggled and turned into a large green handle. Liz stared at the handle in disbelief then quickly pulled on the handle to reveal the elusive Hogwarts kitchens.

[Alexander Bradly]

Xander was up and about wandering around the castle acting like his usual high and mighty self when he heard the voice of Liz Granger. How he hated that girl! She was always showing him up in classes that stupid know-it-all. He decided that a little revenge might be in order.

He thought of several different ways to scare the living daylights out of her. He finally settled on sneaking up behind her and setting off a bomb hex. He sidled into the room staying along the wall and noticed that she had two others with her. They looked like upperclassmen but that didn't worry Xander any, he would disappear before they even knew what happened. He whispered, "sonitus salvus" and was rewarded with an explosion that went off like a bang.

He heard Liz scream and took off back down the corridor as quietly as he could not waiting for any more of a reward or for any retaliation. He chuckled to himself as he entered his own common room thinking that that should teach her a lesson. He went back to his bed and slept soundly the rest of the night confidant that he would not be found out.

[Liz Granger]

Right as Liz was about to step through the portrait she heard a bang go off like a cannon. Liz screamed and immediately dove through the door into the kitchens without even looking behind her for the source of the noise.

As soon as Liz stood up again she looked around in amazement at the Hogwarts kitchens. There were house elves everywhere! And they were cooking everything imaginable! Liz's mouth immediately began to water as she gazed longingly at the cakes and pies and other treats being created by the many elves. It was only then that she noticed the slight tugging on her pajama pants.

It was an elf. "Would the misses and mister like some refreshment?" the elf asked. Liz looked around at her companions and said, "Why yes thank you we most certainly would. You wouldn't happen to have any cake would you?" The elf replied "Why yes of course we have cake. We have any kind of cake that you want. What flavors do you desire tonight?" Liz thought about it and politely replied that she would like a chocolate fudge cake if they had it. The elf quickly scurried off and returned quicker than Liz would have thought possible with a large slice of chocolate cake dripping in fudge sauce and a large glass of ice cold milk.

Liz gaped in astonishment as she took the cake and began to eat it relishing each bite. "Would the other miss and mister like anything to eat?" the elf asked her companions. Liz waited for their replies while she slowly enjoyed her cake.

[Jinx Collen]

At the loud noise that erupted somewhere near them, Jinx's eyes grew wide and she whirled around to see where it came from. That was about as excitable as Jinx ever got: a mild look of shock or displeasure followed by intense curiosity. "Specialis Revelio," she said and a brilliant ruby aura appeared a few feet away. "Hm... a little spy, eh? I'll get you later..." she said to no one in particular before following the young Ravenclaw into the Kitchen.

Even at this early hour of the morning all the house elves were busy preparing food for that morning's meal. Jinx watched as one elf scurried around fetching milk and fudge cake for Liz before offering to serve herself and the older Ravenclaw with them. "Oh, how pleasant. Yes, I'd like a couple of fried eggs, some strawberry sherbet, and a cup of hazelnut coffee if you wouldn't mind."
The house elf serving the small group of students, as well as a couple of others working near them gave Jinx an array of odd expressions, but they went to work and brought her what she'd asked for. "Mmm, thank you," she said gratefully as she leaned against an empty nearby counter and took a long swig from her large coffee mug.

"You know, I wondered how Hogwarts managed all those immaculate feasts. This is quite an operation they've got. Hey, you wouldn't happen to have a couple jalapeno sausage links around here would you?" she asked a passing house elf. He giggled and skittered away, returning a moment later with what she'd asked for. "Amazing. I think I'm glad I met you, Lizzy."

[Liz Granger]

Liz sat there enjoying the delicious cake while the house elves scurried about compiling Jinx's odd choice of items and then they both sat there eating the wonderful food. As they were eating Liz was fascinated by the house elves scurrying about busying themselves with preparations for breakfast later that morning.

As she finished up the last few bites of her cake she sat there lost in thought at how much the night had changed and that she was now sitting in the kitchens with 2 people who she may soon come to call her friends, or at least she fervently hoped so. And maybe these two would continue to be her friends even after they discovered that she was "Liz the Whiz" as people had come to call her behind her back. Liz was very proud of her intelligence it just didn't always help when it came to the friend department. Although, from her experience tonight she didn't think that Jinx would mind. She seemed to be one of a kind and, at the very least, Liz wanted to stick around to see what other sorts of interesting things happened around her.